After Effects and the Adobe Crash Reporter need your help.
(Today's post is from Paul Uusitalo, After Effects quality engineer.)
Greetings After Effects users.
As some of you have probably noticed, we have integrated some new Adobe technology into After Effects CS4: the Adobe Crash Reporter.
In the unfortunate even that After Effects should crash, the Adobe Crash Reporter collects a record of what After Effects was doing at the time the crash occurred and uploads that information into a database here where we can analyze it.
The Adobe Crash Reporter should not be confused with either the Apple or Microsoft crash reporters, which do not send any information to us.
Here's where we need your help.
Unless you fill out the Notes section and enter your email address, the raw data from the Crash Reporter comes into us without any context. We can guess at what you were doing when the crash occurred, but we can't be sure. Nor can we look at a glance and see that you are having the same crash over and over, or that multiple people are running into the same problem. Also, we won't know who reported the crash or have any means to contact to follow up.
At such point that you do encounter the Crash Reporter dialog box, we'd really appreciate it if you took just a few seconds to enter even the most brief description of what you were doing when the crash occurred along with your email address.
I can guarantee you that After Effects will be a better and more stable application as a result.
Paul Uusitalo
After Effects Quality Engineer
[Here's an update from Michael Coleman.]
You have my personal assurance that Adobe is not monitoring your activity. After Effects detects the crash and we don't know anything about it until you send the report to Adobe. The report originates on your computer. If you choose to submit a report (and we very much appreciate if you would) only non-personally-identifiable information is sent to Adobe. This includes information such as which part of the software encountered an issue.
Adding more information, such as what you were doing when the error occurred, is very helpful in diagnosing the problem. If you choose to provide your contact info such as your email address, it will only be used in case we want to contact you about your crash. It will not be used for marketing purposes. You can send the report anonymously if you wish.
The reports are often submitted with a colorful expletive or two. :-) While this is understandable and we take no offense, just remember that if you are inspired to express your frustration, throw in some details about what you were doing at the time of the error.
These reports go directly to your friends on the After Effects team and it's a tremendous resource for you to help us improve the product. It's my hope that you'll take advantage of it.
Michael Coleman
Product Manager, Adobe After Effects
Comments
How do we know if the crash reporter is setup correctly?
Joost
Posted by: Joost | December 19, 2008 9:12 AM
There are not a lot of user settings. Just make sure that "Always show this dialog" is the selected option.
Posted by: Paul Uusitalo | December 23, 2008 3:28 PM
Great Work Guys!
This thinking of usability and error fixing and making software better and better reminds me totaly of the Mozilla people whoe created such a gorgeous Browser like Firefox.
Apple & Microsoft should follow that Philosophy!
Go for it Adobe!
Thanks
Posted by: Thomas | January 9, 2009 10:00 AM
Hi, I have just installed Adobe After Effects V7.0.1 and updated it with your latest updates. But it has never really worked since I got it. I used to get an error message 26::98 and various other messages. Id love to report the problems but I never had a box pop up where I could say yes report this etc. I can find nothing in help, mainly because the programs not up long enough for me to browse it. So how do you switch on this reporting option? I am sure when its working you have a wonderful programme, but for me its back to the working alternatives. Thanks :)
P.S I have a amd 64 processor 3400+, 1023mb ram. Running Windows Vista. I look forward to your comments.
Posted by: Frank | January 10, 2009 8:38 AM
Frank,
The Crash Reporter is just for After Effects CS4 (After Effects 9). If you're having trouble using After Effects 7, then I recommend that you contact Adobe Technical Support. You are entitled to a certain number of free calls for "installation issues, basic usage questions, and troubleshooting unexpected behavior for documented features".
For information on what free technical support you're entitled to, see this page:
http://www.adobe.com/support/programs/customer/gss.html
You should probably also check the system requirements. I'm not sure, but I think that the system that you describe might not be compatible with After Effects 7. But call Technical Support for a definitive answer.
Posted by: Todd Kopriva | January 10, 2009 12:52 PM
My After Effects keeps crashing when ever i open it. It Says "Crash occured while invoking rendered plug-in AE_OpenGL". Please E-mail me back on what i should do so i can run my after effects program.
Posted by: Eric | April 13, 2009 3:49 PM
Eric, it's best to post questions like this to the Adobe After Effects user-to-user forum:
http://forums.adobe.com/community/aftereffects_general_discussion
Several motion graphics and visual effects professionals help people on that forum to deal with issues like yours. I monitor that forum, too, so I can help you to get an answer there.
When asking such a question, please supply information about the version number of your software, some details about your computer, et cetera.
Also, you can contact Adobe Technical Support. There are instructions on how to contact Adobe Technical Support in the banner at the top of the After Effects user-to-user forum.
Posted by: Todd Kopriva | April 13, 2009 7:47 PM
I was using CS3. 3 days ago I started getting a crash at start. So I upgraded to CS4 hoiping that would take care of it.
Still getting the same problem.
I did everything I could. Updated all my drivers including my video card. Used the latest 9.0.2 update. Why am I still having problems?
===========================
Raquel,
You should ask questions like this to Adobe Technical Support. Contact information for Adobe Technical Support is on this page:
http://www.adobe.com/support/aftereffects
Posted by: Raquel | June 20, 2009 4:42 PM
Problem:
When I RAM preview in AE CS4 I get the spinning beach ball and it freezes up everything. Only way to stop it is to force quit. Need help fixing this ASAP!
My Mac Specs:
AE CS4 9.0.2
MAC OS X 10.5.7
2x 2.8 Quad -Core Intel Xeon
6 GB of memory
-Dave
Posted by: Dave Molloy | July 1, 2009 11:39 AM
Dave, it's best to post questions like this to the Adobe After Effects user-to-user forum:
http://forums.adobe.com/community/aftereffects_general_discussion
Posting a comment to a blog is not a good way to address something that you need fixed "ASAP".
Posted by: Todd Kopriva | July 6, 2009 1:18 PM